The DELTA Project employs a public health approach to IPV primary prevention. What is a public health approach? And what is primary prevention?

The Institute of Medicine
defines the mission of public health as
“the fulfillment of society’s interest in assuring the conditions in which
people can be healthy.”[1] A public health approach to IPV prevention is the
systematic process of reducing the likelihood or frequency of IPV through assuring the conditions in which people
can live free from IPV.

Primary prevention of IPV exposes a broad segment of a population to prevention measures before initial perpetration/victimization to reduce the incidence within the population. Thus, it is distinct from secondary and tertiary prevention efforts aimed at modifying the behavior of
individuals who may already be violent or assist individuals already
experiencing the threat or onset of violence. Through they are distinct in their objectives, all three levels of
prevention (primary, secondary and tertiary) are interrelated and ideally operate synergistically.

Addressing IPV through a public health approach remains a relatively new practice. While a growing number of empirical studies
and theoretical frameworks are appearing in the literature, the field is still
in the early stages of developing research-based models.

Contributions from
the DELTA Project to the development of the public health approach to primary
prevention of IPV include:

Capacity building among
state domestic violence coalitions and local domestic violence advocacy
organizations;

Development of
frameworks and tools for planning, implementing, evaluating and sustaining
state-level and community-level primary prevention efforts; and,

An emerging base of
practice-based evidence of effectiveness.

[1] Institute of Medicine Division of Health Care
Services. (1988). The Future of Public
Health. Washington, DC:
National Academy Press.

The California Partnership to End Domestic Violenceis a coalition of over 200 organizations and individuals working to end domestic violence. Every day, the Partnership inspires, informs, and connects all those concerned with domestic violence, because together, we're stronger.

The Partnership's Prevention Program advances effective dating abuse prevention policies and programs through leadership, advocacy, and a statewide network of prevention advocates.